Test Day

Early in the morning at Karasuno, students all over the school had a tense aura around them as their faces were glued to their notebooks. The day of the final exams finally arrived and everyone rushed to cram as much material they could before it started.

"Hahh, I need some coffee right now…"

Haruto gave out a yawn as he went to a vending machine to get a quick bottle of coffee before his finals. He was in the green zone for his current grades but he still wanted to make sure that he didn't flunk any of his tests by not studying.

Haruto stayed up a bit later than he usually did last night to do some last minute review while also watching some of the videos Bokuto had sent him.

He gave some pretty interesting ones that made Haruto so distracted that he needed to place his phone upside down to stop himself from watching anymore.

"Watching two guys build structures with sticks in the wild for some reason, is so satisfying."

Haruto thought back to last night while entering his classroom to sit down at his desk. He looked at his surroundings and saw both Hinata and Kageyama with serious expressions.

"This pen is mine….We are pen?...This is the pen.."

"Log and root are part of a tree…No this is for math, those two mean something else I'm pretty sure…"

Haruto's lips slightly twitched when he heard the words they were muttering under their breaths. He began to worry whether or not they would be fine for the finals.

"Alright everyone! Clear your desks and be quiet since I will now hand out the tests. Good luck"

The teacher standing by the podium at the front spoke up and everyone tensed up. They went silent and quickly put their stuff away, wanting this day to be over.

'Let's just get this over with..'

Haruto thought in his head as he opened up his exam and started to write down his answers.

***

""My brain is fried…""

"Well at least you guys finished it all right?"

Kageyama and Hinata started to groan in their seats with an exhausted expression. They had just finished their last exam and could leave early since they had an early dismissal.

"Do we have practice today?"

"Nope, the coach said we should rest after we took exams so he canceled practice for today."

"Ughhh.."

Hinata felt like playing some volleyball would help cheer him up but his hopes were quickly crushed by Haruto's words.

*Grumble

Haruto felt his stomach grumble and the sound it made caught the attention of the two guys. Haruto gave a slight cough since he saw the grins that the two of them were giving him.

"Why don't we go out and eat for lunch this time since we could leave early."

Haruto quickly tried to change the subject and it worked since they springed out of their chairs and drooled slightly thinking of the different types of food they could have.

"Could we go back to that ramen place that we've been to before Haruto?"

"Sure why not. Not only their ramen is good but also the side of gyoza they have is amazing."

Haruto agreed to Hinata's suggestion and Kageyama was curious to what kind of shop this was after hearing the praises Haruto gave it.

They packed their things and went out leaving the school. After a few minutes of walking they made it to an alleyway with a small shop near the end.

*Cling

"Welcome!"

Haruto opened the door and was greeted by the cook who had a smile on his face. But as soon as they sat down the mood suddenly turned strange.

"..What's with this strange mood.."

"Don't worry about it. This happens everytime Haruto comes over, look over here the shoyu ramen is my recommendation."

Hinata happily replied to the confused Kageyama and they just focused their attention onto the menu ignoring Haruto.

"Boss.. what are the specialties you have today?"

"We have a new ramen called the 'Blood Pond of Hell'... will you be having this one today?"

Haruto took in the name of the sinister sounding ramen and nodded his head asking for one bowl. After a couple of minutes the cook presented two shoyu ramens and the other one was a dark red viscous bowl of ramen.

"Enjoy!"

""Thank you for the meal.""

The three of them took their chopsticks and said their thanks before digging into their bowls. Hinata and Kageyama found their bowl of ramen to be delicious but their eyes kept on wandering to Haruto's bowl.

"Haruto will you be alright.."

"Why did you even order that kind of bowl.."

"A ramen connoisseur needs to have all of the bowls on the menu to know which ones are the best…"

Haruto took his spoon and dipped it into the viscous broth wanting to sample the soup first. He took a sip and his body jolted due to the intense chili flavor scaring the two guys with him.

He then took his chopsticks and tried the bouncy noodles that were coated with the red broth. With each bite he took, the spiciness hit him like a wave attacking his tongue. It made him break into sweats but the addictive flavor of the ramen made him question if this was the same bowl that made his body jolt just from tasting the broth.

"Is it not that spicy… Haruto, can I try some of the broth?"

Hinata was curious by how Haruto seemed to like the scary bowl of ramen so he wanted to try it out for himself. Haruto nodded his head and Hinata took a spoonful of soup and swallowed it.

"!!!!!"

His eyes widened open and frantically searched for his water and drank it. He repeatedly refilled his cup trying to erase this spicy flavor.

"Thank you for the meal.."

"Welcome back from hell kid."

Haruto finished his ramen and the owner gave him a kind smile congratulating him on the journey he just went through.

Kageyama stared at the struggling Hinata and Haruto who looked like he'd reached nirvana. He looked away not knowing what to say and silently ate his ramen.

"Hmm, the chashu is really good."

***

"Please come again!"

The trio walked out of the shop with satisfied expressions after finishing their meals. The owner was kind enough to give each of them some complementary gyoza since they finished their bowls and he liked how they complemented his cooking.

"Haruto, I pray for your toilet once you go home."

"Eh it wasn't that bad don't exaggerated."

"What do you mean not bad?! I felt like my tastebuds were going to burn off."

Hinata gave a questioning look towards Haruto who looked like he was avoiding his gaze.

They walked around the area trying to help their bodies digest the food they had just eaten while talking about the trip to Tokyo.

"You've talked with Fukurodani's ace??"

Kageyama gave a surprised expression while Hinata also gave the same look.

"What is he like?"

"Well… I will just say that he's a very exciting person."

Haruto chuckled as he remembered the barrage of messages he would send him, to which he never failed to make Haruto laugh.

Haruto also said that he would ask Kuroo if he could add Hinata and Kageyama to the group since he felt like they would click nicely with the other guys. The two gave a gracious look towards him and said their thanks.

*Bump*

"Oops."

"I-I'm sorry for bumping into you."

"No it's fine."

As they were passing by some people, Kageyama accidentally knocked shoulders with a person who tried to go around him. He saw that the person dropped their wallet and he picked it up for them.

"Here."

"Thank you for picking it up!"

Kageyama handed it back and turned to catch up to Haruto and Hinata who was waiting for him slightly ahead.

"Kanoka are you alright?"

"Yeah it was just a small accident. No harm done."

A short girl asked the person who bumped into Kageyama if she was okay. She had short black hair and was taller than the usual girl. She looked back at Kageyama and turned around thinking that it was nice of him to pick up the wallet for her.

***

The Tokyo practice matches are coming up. Who else saw that Fontaine trailer, I just hope the story will be interesting and not just some random dialogue for the majority of the quest. Anyways I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.